Back pain is a common and significant malady afflicting large numbers of people in virtually every country of the world. The widespread nature of the problem has been highlighted by numerous articles printed in both medical and news periodicals. Illustrative are an article entitled Bare-Bone Facts About Your Aching Back from the December, 1980 issue of Reader's Digest and the cover story from the July 14, 1980 issue of Time magazine.
Axial traction can be effective to alleviate certain types of back ailments. Such traction has been found to be an effective means of reducing improperly aligned or displaced vertebral elements as well as their associated intervertebral disks and soft tissues. Certain circumstances have, however, long presented obstacles to the effective application of controlled traction to the lumbar area. These circumstances include the significant amount of force which must be applied and the lack of a location at which the axiallly directed force can be applied.
In 1971, the Applicant supervised the construction of an apparatus to support a patient, having one of a number of conditions such as a protruded lumbar disk, in a vertical position wherein the torso of the patient was depended by a chest harness encircling the rib cage. As a result of research, the Applicant concluded that the rib cage could serve as an optimum site of fixation. He determined that, in order for the harness to function most effectively, it must, at its lower end, tighten beneath the rib cage so that, as axial force is applied to the harness, the rib cage will not slide therethrough.
The imposition of such a requirement presents certain problems to the provision of a harness which is both effective and comfortable to the patient being treated. Earliest prototypes of the harness included a series of cinctures which were spaced axially along the harness. Each of the cinctures was tightened about the rib cage of the patient with the lowermost being tightened below the rib cage in order to exert axial force thereon. Tightening of the lowermost belt to a point within the perimeter defined by the rib cage was accomplished exclusively by providing a belt having a sufficient number of locking points whereby the belt could be tightened so that it was within the perimeter of the rib cage regardless of the size of the patient being treated. Even though padding material was provided on the inside of the harness, such a structure frequently caused discomfort to the patient.
It is to these problems in the prior art that the structure of the present application is directed. It provides means whereby axial fixation can be efficiently accomplished, yet wherein the treatment is not rendered uncomfortable.